The Calling
by thesightstillhauntsme
Summary: Across the wide expanse of the Multiverse, there lies an arena. Once every 50 years this arena hosts a great tournament for the strongest and worthiest combatants. Hosted by a mysterious and malevolent creature known only as The Caretaker, a young mutant is whisked away to the stadium known as Station 6-S-6. There's only one thing for certain: they're all in way over their heads.
1. Prologue

**The Calling**

* * *

The sun shone down brightly onto the open field, bathing the grass and trees with a warm summer's glow. On one of the trees nearby, a young robin flew to its highest and most outlying branch…

And promptly emptied its bowels onto a very pissed off teenager below.

"What the HELL?!" Shouted the boy down below. As a form of revenge, he angrily lifted up his arm and shot a small bolt of electricity at the avian fiend, and watched with a satisfied expression as the force of the bolt launched the bird into the air. The boy nodded, satisfied with this, and turned on one foot, heading to the place he called home. He walked up the steps and took a small glance at the sign hanging to the side of the entrance gate, making a mental note to clean it up later. The words on the sign proudly displayed thus:

**Charles Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters**

Vito Gray was one of the many people in his world that had the beautiful but difficult-to-manage X-GENE inside of his body. The X-GENE was something amazing to some, yet a disease to be cured by others. It composed of a special gene, located on the 23rd sexual chromosome located inside of a Homo Sapien. Said gene will eventually end up creating a very special protein, which produces signals that can create mutations on even more genes, until the end result is a mutated organism with various traits depending on the location and speed of the mutation throughout the body. Vito, however, was a special case among mutants.

He was found in an alleyway, with nothing more but a shredded tee-shirt, a pair of skin-tight grey pants that were ripped beyond repair, and with blood covering numerous parts of his body. He was in the process of being chased by a giant man clothed in a ninja-like garb, with numerous types of equipment dangling off him. Scott, another fellow mutant, fought off the man and took him back to the Institute along with four others, all of which would eventually become his close friends and family. Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, Jean Grey, and Ororo Munroe.

The master of the house's name was the one whose name was on the sign out front: Charles Xavier, although everyone seemed comfortable with calling him Professor. The Professor was kind enough to lend Vito his own blood, seeing that he was in need of type O- and no other mutant in the place had it. The Professor also ended up taking Vito under his wing, even after Vito threatened him when he woke up with a ball of lightning aimed at his head.

Vito chuckled to himself. The bald man didn't even so much as bat an eyebrow when he held him at bolt-point. It turned out that he already knew that Vito was a mutant, thanks to a supermachine/computer in the Institute's basement. The Professor ended up teaching Vito everything he knew, giving him his surname, and providing him a school to learn at… although there were a few close calls. There were plenty of times where Vito would accidentally end up electrifying his locker or rubbing off on someone and making their hair stand up like a punk rocker's.

Vito started looking into his powers with the Professor, and eventually found the answers he was looking for in the form of the supercomputer known as Cerebro. Having the Professor directly scan just him and only him, Vito found that his powers revolved around Electrokinesis and Bioelectrokinesis: the art of controlling any type of energy related to lightning or electricity by one's own willpower. Ecstatic and willing to find out more, Vito started scratching the surface of his powers with Wolverine, and ended up furthering them with a shapeshifting mutant known as Mystique.

The blue-skinned shapeshifter came into the picture shortly after Vito enrolled in school, and caught Vito in the act of accidentally blowing up his school's water fountain. Vito fell for her 'caring teacher' act, and ended up secretly training with her on somewhat of a daily basis. Mystique taught Vito different ways to use different fighting styles in conjunction with his powers. They started to gain a teacher-pupil respect for one another, but it ended when Mystique tried to coerce him into joining the Brotherhood of Mutants, and become an apprentice of sorts to her.

Vito hesitantly said no, having heard all of the things that Scott said about what her and her cronies did to the school at one point.

Mystique almost looked teary-eyed for a moment, then motioned for Toad and Pietro to take him in by force. Vito ended up – ironically – using one of the powers he learned while under her tutelage to escape their advances. He flew his way back to the Institute, almost crying silently to himself on the way there.

* * *

Months passed by… and then a year, until a mass-kidnapping of almost all known mutants was staged across the board. They ended up being brought to a giant floating rock, where they learned that it was actually a small city called Asteroid M being controlled by a powerful mutant known as Magneto. The man was a master over polarity and electromagnetic fields, was hell-bent on making mutants better and more well-respected (by way of fear), and wanted to get rid of humanity as a whole in the process. The Institute's mutants ended up stopping him, but at a price.

Vito ended up controlling the Asteroid by its energy away and into the sea, where he was caught in the ensuing explosions of Magneto's 'Super Mutant' machines. The blast ended up slightly altering him, allowing him to do even more amazing things with his powers. However, it stunted his age acceleration, meaning that his cells would deteriorate at a much slower rate than that of the average person.

The machine also ended up giving him a fashion statement, by adding three or four streaks of white going throughout the length of his hair.

It had been a week since that fated encounter, and Vito was still trying to cope with the fact that Mystique had saved his life by pushing him out of the Asteroid's 'Ground Zero.' The force from the blast alone would have killed him, but she saved him in the nick of time by a single, fell push. He still wondered if—

"Vito!" shouted out a voice from the Institute. Looking up, Vito smiled as he recognized the voice.

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

The voice became angrier. "Don't you 'yes' me! Get over here and do some heavy explaining!" Vito laughed silently before watching his girlfriend come down the stairs.

Anna Marie, also known as Rogue, stomped down the stairs with one hand held behind her back. Stopping right before she reached her boyfriend, she took her hand out from behind her back, and held up a very realistic toy tarantula. "Care to explain why you felt the need to make me have a heart attack?"

Vito glanced at the spider, then at Anna. To the spider, then to Anna. Spider, Anna.

"What is it?" Vito cocked his head to the side, acting like a confused puppy.

Anna gave him a _'are you serious?'_ look before she sighed. "You know I sleep with my hand under my pillow, so why on earth would you—

"Scare the ever-living crap out of you? Does the term 'revenge' ever come to mind?"

Anna threw up her arms in exasperation. "You've got to be kidding me! I already apologized for that, like, three days ago!"

Vito started walking towards the elevator that led to the basement, with Anna walking beside him. "Yeah, you might've. But I seem to remember that I said that I was going to get you back for that dastardly plumbing prank, and I think the fact that I probably mentally scarred you with a realistically made hairy spider just made me feel a little bit better."

As a response, Anna hit him backside the head.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right, you jerk." The fact that Anna smiled when she said that made Vito smile back in return, until she reached back again for a repeat performance.

"Ow! Will you stop that?"

Anna grinned. "You've taken an explosion to the face and survived. I think I'm allowed to hit you."

Vito just shook his head and raised his hands in mock-surrender. After all, when your girlfriend can steal the lifeforce out of anything she touches, you learn that you have to give in every once in a while. Although, Vito had figured out a workaround with that. By giving off a small bioelectric aura around his skin, he found that he could touch Anna and not even feel queasy. Anna was delighted when she found out, and immediately started to kiss him. It would've been romantic, except that she found out during breakfast, at the Institute, with everyone in full view. But Anna just didn't care.

The nineteen year-old lightning-child was happy, and nothing was going to change that.

For now, anyways.

* * *

As Vito and Anna made their way to the Danger Room, Anna asked what Vito was doing today, and if he wanted to go out on a date later on that day.

"Well, I should be able to go out with you later, but for the next couple of hours I promised to help Mr. McCoy out with his project."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "What does he need that's more important than our date?" Vito sighed.

"He's trying to see if I can help speed along his machine. Apparently, I have the capabilities to make it teleport, like Kurt. Something about 'riding on electric currents,' or somesuch."

It was true. Hank McCoy, also known to the X-men as Beast, had been building a portal generator of sorts to try and connect Vito's unique electrical signals with the airwaves, creating an instant Port-Machine. If Vito could perfect it, then Hank could get it to work for all of the X-men, so they could instantly jump to whatever location they needed, without the need for Kurt to do it all the time for them. Vito had hesitantly agreed.

"You do know that it's gonna to be unstable, right? Hank said himself that the power might not be able stabilize your energy." Anna argued.

Vito knew she was worried. Her Southern accent would always draw out whenever she was agitated. "It'll be fine. He said he fixed out all the kinks a while ago. I'm not going to blow up or anything. Just a small tingle, and then POOF! Teleportation. Easy as pie… I hope." He added the last part under his breath.

Anna sighed. "Fine. Just be careful." Vito smiled at her.

"Promise."

Anna smiled back, before turning and walking back to the elevator. She called back over her shoulder, "And I hope that bird crap is off by the time I come to get you!"

Vito looked down and noticed that the bird's droppings were indeed still there.

"Sonofa-"

* * *

The Danger Room's doors opened with a slight hiss, and Vito was granted a sight of the end result of Hank McCoy's hard work and labor-intensive studies: a big metal circle.

"Really? A giant hula hoop? That's our soon-to-be teleporter?" mocked the lightning-child. He didn't hear the footsteps of a furry blue man-beast coming up behind him until it was too late.

"You're right, it doesn't look too dissimilar from a giant 'hula hoop,' does it?" Vito jumped at the voice.

Hank McCoy, known fondly by everymutant as Beast, walked past the frightened boy and began climbing up the teleporter, opening various hatches and fixing various parts along the way. "Are you ready for the test today? I've pretty much done everything I can with alterations and calibrations."

Vito looked up at the metal… circle… thing, and shook his head slightly. "I can't believe you made a giant _ring_. I mean, really? I thought it was gonna look like a…" he trailed off.

Hank stared down with a raised eyebrow. "A… what? What exactly did you think that this was going to look like? A square? Maybe a diamond? Perhaps a trapezoid?" Vito looked up sheepishly.

"Kind of?"

The blue mutant facepalmed himself slowly. The boy could be a tactical genius completely capable of going toe-to-toe with a superpowered Magneto, but could just as easily make himself look like a ten year-old in return. Hank swung down underneath the teleporter, dropped down to the metal floor, and twisted in midair. Landing on all fours, he straightened up and took a glance back upwards at his and Charles' creation.

The machine itself stood about a good 12 feet above the ground, and about the same width-ways. The two mutant teachers had spent weeks coming up with the designs and building them out. The result was, in Hank's mind, a technological masterpiece. Should Vito successfully merge his powers with the machine, it would be able to latch on to specified signals in the airwaves, and open a bridge to the location of the signals. The younger mutant's power was key to the powering up of the machine, as his unique electronic signature would determine if the teleporter could send specific individuals to specific places.

Hank had tried to explain this to Vito multiple times, and the boy – to his credit – had understood much of the specs, but he still couldn't understand the reason his power was needed. And that, was something that Hank just couldn't make Vito understand. Besides, if he got the gist of it, then that was all the teacher could ask for.

The boy walked over to where a circular pad was situated in front of the teleporter, and found a piece of paper that was sitting on top showing the words '**TEST SUBJECT**' showing in bright red ink. The boy snatched up the paper, and showed it to the blue mutant. "'Test subject?' You're kidding me with this crap, right?"

Hank walked over to the control and maintenance board. Pushing buttons, pulling levers, and flipping switches, he placated the irked youngster absentmindedly.

"I believe that was Kurt and Kitty's idea. They were slightly peeved at the prospect that our project has taken up the Danger Room, and as such they got a little bored the other day. Kurt apparently teleported them both in and they looked around for a bit, before giving up and leaving. But not before leaving that note, as you can see."

The boy rolled his eyes at his friends' antics, and made a mental note to extract retribution later. The boy looked towards the machine. "So, what exactly do you want me to do to turn this thing on? Send a wave of static at it?"

"No, not a wave. Do you see that small box at the top of the portal?" Vito squinted up at the item in question. It _was_ small. About the size of a CD small.

No matter. If he could the dime off of a railing at over 80 yards away, then he should hit it without a problem. "Yeah, I got it. Hit the tiny target. So what are we waiting for?"

Hank nodded towards the door of the Danger Room. "The Professor, Scott, and Jean. The first because he wished to supervise, and the other two because they felt the impulse to watch." Hank looked over at Vito's expression. "It's not a problem is it? If you want to do it without them nagging you, that's quite alright."

The supercharged mutant shook his head. "No, of course not. I'm just kind of surprised that they wanted to watch this. It's just me walking through a giant circle. Nothing exciting."

Hank's head shot up from his work. "'Nothing exciting?!' Vito, should we be able to make this machine tick we could open up a whole new field in technology for the world! What we do here today could either place us in history books or put us back to square one. 'Nothing exciting' indeed…" Vito's hands rose in apology.

"Alright, alright… no need to get a hernia there, just saying. All it's going to appear to be is just a flash of light, and then a disc of energy opening up in a containment field. That's it."

Hank went back to his work, remarking, "Well, yes it might not _look_ like much, but it's still going to be a big breakthrough. I suppose they just wanted to see you off to Beijing."

Vito's head whipped around to his teacher. "BEIJING?! Are you kidding me?! Of all the places to send me, you decide to place me on the opposite side of the planet?!"

Hank slapped his knee and roared with laughter. "Ah, you should have seen the look on your face! Ha ha ha! That was almost too easy!" Hank continued to laugh, with Vito standing off to the side debating off to the side whether or not he should send a small jolt towards the blue monkey. Whatever fate Vito might've carried out, however, was halted with the sound of the Danger Room's doors opening. Sure enough, the Professor, Scott, and Jean all walked in as one. They looked up at the machine's finished form, then towards the jovial teacher and the disgruntled student.

"Do we want to know what's going on here?" asked Scott.

Vito glanced at them then back to Hank. "Just deciding if I should have charred teacher for lunch."

Hank stopped laughing after a good thirty seconds, and then wiped a small tear that had formed at the side of his eye away. "Oh, come on. I was just having a laugh."

"Yeah, at my expense." Grumbled the boy. He turned to the three other mutants. "So, you guys here for the big reveal?"

Jean grinned. "Are you kidding? When the Professor told us about this, we couldn't pass it up." Scott nodded in assent. "What she said. How often do you get to see pure science in the form of teleportation?"

The Professor was about to speak as well, until he noticed something. "Vito, I too wish you all the best of luck in this, but don't you think that you should change first? You have a small… erm…"

Vito looked at his coat and sighed. That damned bird poop was still sitting there, as noticeable as a cherry on a cake. Raising a finger, he fried the offending substance off and went to go change into his 'battle suit,' not before noticing Scott holding back a smile.

"I hate birds." Vito remarked, before leaving to switch clothing.

* * *

Three minutes later, Vito came downstairs in his suit, and floated over to the Ready Pad, his suit flickering from his usage of his element.

Vito's suit was different from the rest of the X-men, as he and the Professor had both designed it with his powers in mind. The entirety of the suit was a dark navy blue that was armored by a small lining of flexible vibranium throughout the whole thing, courtesy of Wolverine's old contacts in Shield and Stark Industries. The feature that was the most important out of the suit was something that Vito dubbed his 'Charge Lines.' The Charge Lines ran from the neck of his suit out to his arms and down again to his legs, zigzagging the entire length of the suit. Their purpose was to catch extra energy that Vito gave off, so that should he ever run tired or low on energy, he could drain his suit and keep on fighting. In fact, they had saved him more than once plenty of times.

Vito could count on both his hands and a foot exactly how many times his Charge Lines had helped him in a fight. The two most important times were during his fight with Magneto, when he had used the energy to come back to the land of the living after he had used his Discharge attack – his trump card – and the second being the time he had used a great deal to conjure up the strongest shield-construct he was capable of when he was caught in the explosion of Asteroid M.

The Charge Lines glowed a bright white-blue whenever energy was stored in them, and because they were coated in a small lining of vibranium as well, they were practically un-cuttable.

"Are you set, Vito? Because I'm ready whenever you are. Just zap the box up at the top, and then walk through. If this works properly, you should be sent to a small field outside of Bayville. No muss, no fuss." Vito glanced over his back at the mutants that had gathered behind a bulletproof glass fixture set up attached to the wall. Jean gave an excited wave, while Scott gave a thumbs up. The Professor was looking over the readings or… something on the control panel, and Hank had on a small headset and was looking expectantly at Vito.

Vito turned back around and cracked his knuckles outwards. "Alright, here goes nothing."

He took a deep breath. Time to make history.

"Three…"

He lifted his hand upwards in the shape of a finger gun.

"Two…"

He took aim at the target.

"One…"

He shut one eye.

"Fire!"

A small bolt of electricity, carrying no more than a few volts, shot up and hit the box dead center. The box began to glow, before lines around the entire machine started to shine as well, showing the intricate circuitry underneath. Sixteen small spokes popped out of the inside of the circle, '_the containment field_' Vito recalled. Slowly and one by one, the spokes began lighting up as well, until the circle was lit up like a Christmas tree at the White House.

Four of the spokes shot out beams of energy to the middle of the portal, each of them stopping the other beams and equalizing the force out. Then another four released similar beams of energy, and another four. The last four activated with a small _click_. All sixteen were operational, and at the middle of the machine, the energy was pooling into a swirling mass of light. So far, so good.

Suddenly and without warning, a red light started to blink inside of the control booth. It would have gone unnoticed, if not for Jean, who saw it and pointed it out to the Professor. "What does that mean, Professor? Nothing bad, I hope?" she said with a smile.

Charles looked over and saw the light. Eyes widening, his hands immediately started to fly over the numerous buttons and gizmos on the panel. "Oh, no, no, no, NO!"

Vito was still standing on the Ready Pad, watching the swirling vortex grow bigger and bigger, until it reached the confines of the circle. The energy started to hum and swish, making it hard for Vito to hear himself speak.

"Let me know when to go through, okay guys?" He shouted back towards the booth. When he received no answer, he looked back in confusion.

He was greeted to the sight of the control booth in chaos. Hank and the Professor were furiously typing in commands and shouting at one another, while Scott and Jean were pointing back and forth from the machine to Vito. There was only one constant emotion on everyone's face: Panic.

Vito called out again to the booth. "Guys, what's going on out here? Is something going wrong, or what?" He received his answer in the form of a creaking sound coming from the portal, and he turned back to look. Immediately he wished he hadn't.

The once-bright whirlpool of energy had changed drastically. The teleporter's circuitry was glowing a deep crimson red, along with the energy in the vortex itself. At the very heart of the circle, there was nothing but blackness. The blackness continued to make its way outwards, and into the edges of the containment field.

_This is probably a good time to ditch._ Without a second thought, Vito started to fly in the opposite direction. He had almost made it to the control booth, when he felt something tugging him backwards. Putting more and more power into his flight, he tried with every ounce of his will to fly out of the portal's pull, but found that he was still drifting slowly backwards. In desperation he threw out a tether-construct towards the control booth, and started to try and climb it back up... but to no avail. It only bought him a few seconds of precious time, giving him a moment to look back at the people he had come to know as his closest friends.

His feet brushed against the surface of the mass of dark energy, and all at once it felt like every ounce of his body was drenched in pure pain. After a few fatal seconds trying to keep moving forward, he couldn't take it anymore and he let go of his flight. Over the speakers, the voice of four mutants crying out one word was heard throughout the Institute, as the lightning-child disappeared into the corrupted portal.

"VITO!"

* * *

There was nothing but dim lights flickering on and off when Vito woke up.

As the mutant slowly regained consciousness, he found that the pain from the portal was all but gone, almost as if it had never happened in the first place. The boy shook his head to clear it, and took stock of his surroundings.

The room he was in looked like a big hallway, with a door on one end and a dead end towards the other. He made his way to the end where the door was situated, pooling excess energy into his Charge Lines absentmindedly. The overall feel of the place did nothing to help his already-growing confusion. It was almost as if one could feel the dreariness and darkness emanating from the very walls of this place.

Vito made his way to the door, stopping when he reached it to look around for a button to press. He finally ended up hitting the door with a bolt of energy in frustration, resulting in a small _ping _sound echoing throughout the hallway. The boy was about to blast the entire door down when the sound was heard again, this time from above him. Vito looked up and saw a glowing rectangle floating in midair to his left. Looking around carefully, Vito watched as the brightly-lit shape made its way to his side. The glowing began to subside, and Vito could now make out words located on the hologram.

_- Welcome, Vito Gray. We would like to welcome you the glorious battle arena of STATION_ S-6-S.

Vito scoffed slightly at this. This was no more glorious then Kurt's room was clean.

Wait a second. Battle arena?

_- You have been chosen to compete in a battle for the ages. Should you choose to accept, you will do battle with (15) of the greatest warriors of our age. Should you decline, an exit will be provided for you, and another contestant will take your place._

The lightning-child pondered what was before him now. On the one hand, this sounded EXTREMELY dangerous, and not at all safe. On the other hand, Vito didn't give two cents about safety, and was usually the first one to rush in to a fight.

After a small debate with his feelings, he reached out and punched the button labeled: _ACCEPT_.

The hologram cleared the words on the screen, then faded out of existence. Vito watched the light blink out, then turned his attention towards the door. The thing creaked and groaned, turning on hinges that had long since been in need of maintenance. He was greeted to what looked like a holding cell, with another, slightly grander door up ahead. Vito walked forward, and reached out to touch the entrance. As soon as he did, he was greeted with the sight of the same hologram appearing in front of him, blinking out one word.

_- CONGRATULATIONS!_

* * *

Across the Multiverse, in a quadrant of space that no-one ever dared to mention, there lied a stadium. This stadium was once a grand thing, shiny and new. Once every fifty years, it called out to sixteen great warriors from across the stars to come and fight in deadly combat.

Years of disrepair however, had turned the stadium into a state of decay. Gears grinded against one another, and sparks would shoot out of exposed panels.

It was the perfect lair for its owner.

The monstrous creature known as The Caretaker, in all of his sinister and evil glory, watched with perverted anticipation as one of his chosen combatants was dumped unceremoniously into one of the holding rooms. The screen that he was being watched on was one of sixteen others, with each showing his other combatants arriving to their rooms through different means. Cackling lightly, he watched his current quarry's actions, as he regained his balance, and opened the digital invitation that was sent to him like the rest. The Caretaker hissed in glee as the boy accepted the invitation after a small internal debate.

"Everything is turning out perfectly. The full set has arrived, and it is nearly time." The Caretaker's voice came out in a wispy rasp. "I wonder if this one will live up to my expectations, or if he'll be just like all the rest."

The Caretaker turned away from the monitors and looked out into the space of the giant arena. It was nearly time. The board was set, and the pieces were moving.

"This will be quite entertaining, of this I have no doubt." The creature's laughter rang throughout his screen-filled room, as the combatants down below wandered aimlessly without the slightest clue as to what they were getting themselves into.

The battle of a generation was about to begin.

* * *

_**I've ended up coming out of my shell a bit. I was pretty much forced at gunpoint to try and participate after my friend saw the contest through The Incredible Muffin's submission to THE CALLING. So I figured... "What the hell, why not?" **_

_**Should anyone wish to participate, simply go to Rapidfyrez's profile, and all of the details are there.**_


	2. The Outer Ring: The Story Guardian

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything from X-men, nor do I own the character Daniel Jackson. Both belong to their respective owners: Marvel Comics and Bigby the Big Bad Wolf. **

**Enjoi!**

**Round 1: The Outer Ring**

* * *

"Alright, this is getting _really _boring, _really_ fast." Vito felt like he had been going in a straight line ever since he arrived on Station S-6-S.

He had opened the door with the 'CONGRATULATIONS!' sign on it, and was greeted by a huge, slightly curved corridor that was as tall and wide as the Danger Room. He had started down it with apprehension, pouring excess energy into his suit's Charge Lines.

And yet here he was, stuck in a giant hallway with no end in sight and nothing to do.

Well... almost nothing.

Vito had discovered doors on the sides of the corridor, each one with a small red light hanging above the doorframe. There seemed to be nothing special about the entrances, save for the fact that he could sense small amounts of electricity coming from behind each them.

It had been about twenty minutes of non-stop walking, before Vito began to search for any other people with his senses. He would reach out into the electrical spectrum and look for anything that felt was biologically made. Vito had been stumped to find that he couldn't find anything, save for the energy running throughout the walls of the Station. It was almost as if there was nobody here, and if he couldn't sense anybody that could mean that either this 'battle for the ages' thing was a steaming pile, or that this Station's weird energy was throwing him off of his game.

Vito shook his head, and sent out one last pulse. If he didn't get any feedback, he swore to himself he would make himself an exit, and get the hell out. This time however, before he received any feedback, he heard something coming from down the hallway.

_Is that… whistling?_ The lightning-child stood stock still for a moment, before straining his senses to locate the shrill sound that was starting to echo through the halls. It almost sounded like something from Disney, but he just couldn't place it.

Vito hadn't seen many Disney movies before, and the one time he had was when Kitty forcibly dragged him to a DVD set and popped in something called 'Lion King.' It wasn't half bad, and Vito ended up with a new respect for lions as a whole, but he decided that until Disney came out with an intergalactic space-age thriller, he wasn't going to watch another one of those song-filled animations.

The whistling was steadily growing louder, and the mutant was able to make out the telltale sounds of footsteps clanking against the metal floors. Vito thought about going further up the passage to meet whoever the whistler was, but stopped himself before he took a step. What if whoever was coming was one of the 'greatest warriors' the hologram mentioned, or worse?

The mutant looked up for a moment, before flying up to a small crevice hidden near the ceiling. It was out of sight, and easy to drop out of. Placing a hand on the metal, he created a small latch-construct and pegged it to the wall, allowing him to stay attached to the wall without his flight powers acting like one big flashlight. Vito tensed himself and waited. The person was coming into view, and he could just make out the regular human walking past him.

_A human? What in God's name is a human doing in a place like this?_

"Hey bud, wait up a 'sec!" Vito dropped down from his hiding place and ran up to the man, who gave a startled yelp in surprise. He started to reach for something in his pocket, but dropped his hand when he saw who had hailed him.

"Sweet crap, kid! You scared the bejeezus out of me." Vito had the decency to look slightly sheepish. "Yeah, sorry about that. Didn't mean to."

The man gave a large sigh, then eyed Vito up and down. "What are you doing here, kid? This is a _seriously_ dangerous place to be in." Vito frowned.

"'Kid'? Sorry to rain knowledge on you, but I'm nineteen years old tough guy." The man raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Oh really? In that case I'm _still_ older than you, so I think I automatically reserve the right as your elder and better to call you 'kid.'" Vito gave a sharp laugh, before flaring a small aura of electricity that visibly flowed off of him, making the man step back.

"You may be my elder bud, but you are most certainly _not_ my better."

The man backed up slowly, before stopping taking out a tomahawk-like axe that had a hole in the center of its head from behind his back. Vito looked down at the small weapon and gave the man an incredulous look, which the human picked up on. Suddenly, the tomahawk started to lose its small stature, and morphed into a heavy one-handed halberd. Vito blinked.

"Oh."

A loud speaker popped out of the ceiling, and blared out a message that echoed throughout the corridor:

"**CONTESTANT NUMBERS SIX AND THIRTEEN! YOU WILL FIGHT!"**

The man needed no second urging as he reared back and swung the axe in a powerful downward chop, Vito just narrowly dodging aside. The blow had so much power behind it that it stuck into the metal floor panels. The man let go of the weapon with a small sigh.

"So you're one of the combatants, eh? I guess I should've figured that out, seeing that you're dressed to look like you're from Tron." The human began reaching behind him, grabbing at something. Vito decided not to give him the time of day. He hurled an electrical ball at him, causing the man to grab his weapon out of the floor with a solid yank and roll out of the way. The mutant looked his opponent up and down, assessing just who the _hell_ he was dealing with.

The human before him was taller than him and better built, but had scarcely any armor. The only places that were reinforced on him were the top of his torso and his lower legs, and they looked like they were made out of reinforced plastic. His choice of clothing consisted of a long coat that stretched to his knees, with a grey-black suit underneath it all. Looking closely, Vito could make out the likes of a small necklace with a translucent snowflake on it dangling from his neck.

The mutant stood up straight and called out to his opponent. "What's your name, bud? I keep calling you 'human' in my head, and it's getting old." The human looked at Vito weirdly.

"'Human?' What, you aren't one?"

It was Vito's turn to look weirdly at his opponent. "You're kidding, right? How many other humans do you know that can throw around lightning?"

The man chuckled to himself. "Quite a few actually, but you can call me Daniel. How about yourself?"

"Vito."

Daniel mock-bowed. "Well then, Mr. Non-human Vito, shall we dance? Or do you want to forfeit now and save yourself some dignity? You look like someone who likes to dress up rather than fight anyways."

Vito saw what he was doing. After all, he did it all the time to Quicksilver and Toad. This 'Daniel' guy was trying to annoy him and make him slip up. It was a clever card to play, but Vito knew that type of game like the back of his hand. He wasn't fluent in sarcasm for nothing. "By all means! Ladies first, Snowflake."

Daniel responded by reaching behind him and pulling out a large revolver and firing off four shots. Vito quickly raised his arm and created a small shield-construct to deflect the bullets, noticing that the guy hit the dead center of the shield each time.

_Great, so he's a marauding sniper. Perfect._ Vito thought to himself.

Daniel rushed in, firing round after round at Vito while his halberd shifted into an axe with a blade reminiscent of an angel's wing going up. Vito flew up and backwards, expanding his shield-construct so that it encompassed the lower half of his body. He flew around in circles, hurling small bolts and waves of electricity at the man and waiting for him to run out of ammunition. Daniel met him shot for shot, dodge for dodge.

After the umpteenth round fired from the handgun, Vito finally cried out, "How many bullets do you have in that thing!? Seriously, is there a pocket dimension in there or what?" Daniel laughed for a second, then lowered his weapon.

"The gun's got unlimited ammo kid, granted to me by one extradimensional asshole. Although…" Daniel glanced down at his gun, thinking, and then looked back up to Vito. "I think we should continue this conversation on the ground, don't you?"

Before Vito could reply, the human clipped his axe to his back and brought both hands to his pistol. Then, just like the axe, Daniel's gun shapeshifted into a fully-primed rocket launcher that was aimed straight at the ceiling.

_Hold a minute, why is he aiming at the ceiling?_ The mutant's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the rocket being fired. Vito raised up his shield to protect him, but the missile stayed true and blasted the ceiling instead of him, with the force of the explosion blowing the lightning-child downwards to the ground. He hit the metal floor with a loud clang, as his vibranium-reinforced suit absorbed most of the impact.

The mutant groaned slightly as he got to his knees. He might have tough-as-nails armor, but that still _hurt_. He brought his head up, and he saw his opponent in front of him. His rocket launcher was replaced with a shotgun, and a grim look was plastered on his face.

"You know I've never felt a 12-gauge point-blank before, but I've heard that it hurts pretty bad." He raised the shotgun to Vito and held it a good two feet away from him. "Here's the deal. If you want to make a move, then we'll find out just how tough that Tron suit of yours is. If you don't, then the gun will go away. You get me?"

Vito's mind ran on overdrive, trying to think of a situation that would get him out of the situation. He found none. The lightning-child lowered his head in defeat, ready to say the magic words and give up. He couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way, and –

_Wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking? Yes I can!_

Daniel saw the mutant look down, and took it as a sign that he won. "Well, that wasn't_ nearly_ as hard as I thought it would be." He said to himself distractedly.

That was all Vito needed.

He teleported to the side, and before Daniel could react, Vito formed a construct-hammer that was twice his height and brought it crashing down on his opponent. He stayed in that position for half a minute, before dissipating the weapon and walking up to see what damage had been done. But when the mutant reached the spot where his construct had hit, he saw that there was nothing but a gaping crater remaining.

"Whoa…" Vito came to the edge of the hole and saw that there was an opening at the bottom. He looked down the center of the pit and immediately noticed three things:

1. That there was a whole other section identical to this one.

2. Daniel was bleeding but still standing.

3. There was a fully-loaded rocket launcher aimed directly at the entrance of the hole.

Vito's eyes widened. "Crapcrapcrapcrap…!"

Daniel fired repeatedly, leading to a stray rocket landing right at Vito's feet, causing him to be blown on his back again. This time however, he didn't have time to haul himself back up. The floor started to creak and groan, and then fell inwards on itself, while carrying a thoroughly shaken mutant down with it.

* * *

Daniel hadn't even seen the boy move; he had been _that_ fast. He had hoped to take the kid down easily and without much damage to both parties, but the minute he was crushed beneath a hammer and sent to a whole other floor of the Station, he ditched the notion faster than a dirty sock. The man stood up, and reached up to rub his hurting head. When his hand pulled back, he saw that it was covered in a fresh coat of blood.

Daniel was now officially peeved. This brat was going down, and was going down _hard_. He picked up his Omni-Gun that was lying to the side and mentally commanded it to switch its form to a RPG-32.

The weapon was capable of firing thermobaric Fuel-to-Air-Explosives missiles and High-Explosive-Anti-Tank shells. Both types of rockets were perfectly suited for leveling a three-story house within seconds, and right now Daniel didn't care about which one he used to blast that little nuisance into kingdom come.

He primed the launcher back up at the hole he had crashed down from, and waited for the boy to show his head over the edge.

The second he saw that blue-lined suit appear he opened fire, pulling the trigger multiple times until the entire ceiling started to collapse on itself, causing Daniel to turn and run from the falling debris threatening to crush him. "Crapcrapcrapcrap…!"

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

The Caretaker was watching one particular fight with glee: the match between the mutant and that damnable Story-Keeper's pet. The floor had apparently given out in their district, causing a massive collapse in the entire wing. The Story-Keeper's pet was currently running away from the crumbling wreckage, and in effect, his opponent.

"Oh, this will not do. Let's keep you two together, shall we?" The Caretaker began to type commands into a nearby panel, then turned his attention back to the screens. "That should take care of any thoughts of running away."

The laughter of The Caretaker rang throughout his control room, as he continued to watch the combatants fighting their battles.

* * *

Daniel was running as fast as his legs could carry him away from the rapidly-disintegrating ceiling. He could feel the strain he was putting on his legs, both artificial and organic, but he kept on sprinting.

Slowly but surely, the trail of destruction that was following him ground to a halt. Daniel kept on running until he chanced a look back and saw that there was no more wreckage behind him. He eventually started to slow down, until he tripped over his own two feet from pure exhaustion. Flipping over onto his back, he lied there in the dim light of the Station's hallways, gasping for breath.

His fish routine continued for about a minute until he felt himself start to shudder. Every part of him started to shake, all the way from his head to his toes. Daniel tried to get up and get moving to stop himself from shaking, until he saw the actual cause.

The opposite ceiling was falling as well.

"Oh, come _ON_!" Daniel gasped out. He scrambled to his feet and started to run like a bat out of hell in the other direction. But there was a problem.

He was slower than he was previously. All of the running Daniel was doing was taking a toll on his body, making his legs slower and heavier. As he reached the spot where the previous section's collapse stopped, he cocked back on his mechanical leg and jumped as long and far as he could. He landed just out of the reach of the devastation and onto a pile of metal and rubble.

Daniel looked between the coinciding paths of havoc, and uttered a single word.

"Shit."

* * *

Vito had woken up half-buried in the remains of the floor; or the ceiling, depending which way one looked at the situation. After tugging at the slab of metal covering his legs, he finally gave up and created a giant hand-construct to lift the refuse off. Once finished he flew up and out of the destruction, then gave his back a sharp twist. He felt a series of satisfying 'pops' as his back was stretched out, and reminded himself to thank Wolverine for the vibranium that was lining his suit.

The mutant looked at the trail of devastation that went on into the distance. It looked like a full-fledged F5 tornado had ripped through the corridor. Broken metal slabs, support beams, and chunks of what looked like concrete littered the entire hall. Vito angled his body forward and took off down the passageway. "Now where did my opponent go? I hope he didn't get crushed by a slab of metal; he was kind of growing on me."

* * *

It wasn't long before Vito found his quarry. He had been flying low to the pile of wreckage when he spotted Daniel sitting down on a block of concrete. The human was sweaty, his clothes were torn, and he had a streak of blood coming down the side of his head. The mutant descended his flight, and landed on a small patch of uncovered floor.

"Wow, you look like you just ran three marathons through a briar patch." Remarked Vito as he touched down lightly. Daniel simply scoffed at this and waved his hand dismissively at the lightning-child.

"Yeah well, you don't look so hot yourself." Vito looked down at himself, but besides the odd scrape here and there, he couldn't find anything wrong with his suit. He looked back up at Daniel to ask what he meant, when heard the sound of something whizzing through the air. He looked up sharply, turning his head in order to save it from the tomahawk that came spinning by. Vito was stunned. "What the…!"

Daniel ran over to the mutant and started throwing punch after punch. Vito was caught off guard, and began putting his training with Mystique to work. He blocked and countered, and he punched and kicked. The man was strong, but it was clear that he lacked proper training in close quarters combat, leaving Vito to start gaining the upper hand. The human was getting slower, and he was opening up his guard. The mutant picked up on this, and started to push Daniel back.

Vito dodged a wild haymaker from the man and counterattacked with one of his own. Or at least, he _would_ have, but Daniel had whipped out his revolver and it switched its shape to an AK-47 with the sights aimed right at the lightning-child. Vito switched his stance in turn and reached for the gun's barrel as Daniel aimed and pulled the trigger. The barrel was pushed out of the way just in time, as rounds came pouring out of the rifle's muzzle. The nearby walls were with peppered with gunfire, as Vito swung around and elbowed the larger man in the gut and disarmed him with one swift motion. Vito turned and pointed the weapon at Daniel, and despite never having fired a gun before in his life… he pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"What the hell? What's the matter with this thing?" Daniel's body shook with laughter at the mutant's bemused expression.

"It's keyed to me and me alone, boy. No matter what you try to do, you can't use it against me." Vito looked down at the rifle in wonder. Who could've had the skill and know-how to make such a weapon?

"But _I_ on the other hand…" Daniel continued, "Can use it against _you_." With that he raised his hand and the gun flew out of Vito's grasp into his. Instead of using it however, he swiftly morphed it back into a handgun and holstered it. The lightning-child was confused until he saw Daniel charge at him again.

Vito then started to fly back out of the man's range like he had in the beginning moments of the fight. It would have worked too, if not for the fact that Daniel reached out and grabbed Vito's foot before he could escape. The boy was slammed into the ground face-first, before Daniel brought an armored leg up and smashed it down on the boy's back, creating a mutant-sized dent in the floor. The vibranium absorbed most of the impact, but it left Vito in a stunned daze. Daniel pulled back and reached in the tomahawk's direction to grab it, which hadn't left its position since it was thrown. Vito flipped himself over, and kipped back upright into a fighting stance. He was greeted with the sight of Daniel standing proud and tall in front of him, holding his axe in the form of a bardiche.

"Now… where we?" Daniel quipped.

"You were about to get your head knocked sideways." Vito shot back. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? You feel like gambling?" And with those words still in the air, the Story Guardian launched himself forward. Vito formed a sword-construct and met him halfway in the air. Both combatants' weapons clashed together, creating a small shockwave as energy-construct met super-weapon. The surrounding area was cleared of nearby debris as a result, leaving a makeshift ring in the center.

As the two gladiators fought, Vito could tell he was outclassed. The man he was fighting was on a _master's_ level with his axe. It was as if the weapon was an extension of himself, and that conclusion was justified as he watched the man effortlessly twirl the handle around as if it weighed no more than a cornstalk. The only reason that Vito was still alive was because of his hard-pressed training with Wolverine and his adamantium blades, and he had gotten his hide handed to him in those fights.

Every. Single. Session. Just like now.

Daniel was gaining ground on the mutant, slowly maneuvering around the battle field while pushing back Vito relentlessly. The lightning-child gave a desperate swing at Daniel's head before continuing with his momentum and spinning back around with a hammer-construct thrown at the man's legs. Daniel saw the move coming and jumped upwards, with his body becoming vertical and dodging the wild attempt from the boy's sword, and having the hammer miss him completely. He twisted in midair, commanding his bardiche to change to an ornate double-headed broadaxe and swinging it downwards. The mutant leaped backwards in order to dodge the blow, but stumbled over a raised floor panel that was sticking up in the process. He fell flat on his back, with the axe's strike landing right between his legs. Vito's eyes widened as he saw just how close the axe head had been to anything important. He rolled backwards and shot out two knife-constructs with the intent of hitting both of Daniel's arms in their biceps.

What happened instead, caused Vito to drop his jaw

The knives barely missed, with both only grazing the Story Guardian's arms. The left was trickling a small amount of blood, but the other… wasn't. There weren't any fluids coming out whatsoever, and there was a tiny bit of circuitry that could be seen protruding out.

_Holy crap, he's got a cybernetic arm! That's how he's so strong!_ Vito's thoughts were confirmed as Daniel's arm shot out a few sparks. The man reached up with his left hand to cover the breach in the prosthetic limb, stuffing the wires that had fallen out back into it.

Vito came to a realization. If the human had a mechanical arm, and sparks had shot out of the inner workings, then the limb had to be running on some form of electricity.

And if it was running on electricity, then he could control it.

The boy reached out with his arm and his senses, searching for the energy within the cybernetic prosthesis. He could feel the power in the arm, and immediately ripped it out and into the air. Daniel could feel his arm powering down, and he reached behind him to his Omni-Gun that he had tucked behind him. While Vito was concentrating with eyes shut, he used his weapon's power to shift into the one thing that would be able to take the lightning-child out for good.

An ion particle blaster-cannon, based off of Emperor Zurg's own weapon. He held the blaster underneath his biologic arm cranked the power regulator on the side up to the highest setting, then took aim at Vito's center of mass. The blaster gave a high-pitched whine as it gathered up enough energy to fry Tokyo's power grid. Vito heard the noise and opened his eyes, and saw the weapon's three barrels lined up at him.

In the split second that followed, Vito teleported up and above Daniel. It was a risky move, as he was already tired and the move was often disorientating. He ignored the queasy feeling that was forming in his stomach, and summoned some of the energy stored in his Charge Lines for one final blast. Daniel saw that the boy disappeared, and heard a sound much like his own blaster charging up coming from above him. He looked up to find Vito pointing both hands down at him, a crackling blue ball of energy forming in his hands. Daniel raised the blaster up and fired a beam of radioactive green at the mutant, at the same time Vito's hands cupped together and shot down a stream of blue-white lightning at the Story Guardian.

The result was a collision of light and energy so powerful, it shook the ground and the surrounding hallway like an earthquake. Neither blast gave any leeway, with both keeping each other in check. Daniel grit his teeth as his grip on the blaster tightened, and Vito clenched his arms' muscles as his stream widened. The power was gathering at the center of the two beams, with rays of bright iridescent color steaming off of them. Daniel's blaster started blinking and blaring warning signs, informing him that the energy buildup was becoming unstable, while the beam coming from Vito's hands started to ebb and pulse, helping him to realize that the power that he was emitting was becoming incredibly dangerous. Neither opponent cared.

The man and the mutant poured more power into their shots, until the energy in the center gave way. There was a flash of light, followed by an explosion that rocked the Station to its very core. The mutant and the man were thrown back by the force of it, with Daniel hitting the floor and skidding across it, and Vito flying back to hit the remnants of the destroyed ceiling.

The lightning-child was drained. That last blast had taken every ounce of power for him to make, and whatever that blaster had shot out hurt like nothing before. Not even the portal that had brought him here had hurt this much. It felt like his body was trying to split himself apart, and the only thing keeping him together was his suit. Draining his Charge Lines of whatever they had left, he used the energy to push himself back up. Looking over to Daniel, he could see that the man hadn't fared much better. His arm was in disrepair, sparking and crackling along with his left leg, which seemed to be a replacement as well. Vito got up on shaky arms and feet, and staggered his way over to the downed warrior.

Daniel looked up from his position on the ground, and gave a blood-filled cough. The man lifted his hand and gave him a thumbs up. "Not bad, kid. I've seen some tough guys in my life, but you're up there with them." While his biological arm was raised in the gesture, his short-circuited one was trying to inch its way to the blaster, which had reverted back to its revolver form. Vito saw and let off a weak wave of static electricity towards the weapon, pushing it out of the way and into Daniel's discarded axe. Vito looked back to the warrior lying on the floor.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself." The mutant remarked.

The man chuckled, before frowning slightly. "So… you going to finish this?"

Vito blanched in confusion. "What do you mean? I already have. You're tossed like an egg."

The man shot a quizzical look at Vito. "You mean you're not going to off me? I thought this was a fight to the death." Vito shook his head.

"Since when was it ever?" The Story Guardian looked off into the distance.

"But he said that…" Daniel trailed off.

Vito walked to Daniel's side and sat down next to him. "I'm not going to kill you, or anyone else on this place." The mutant paused. "Well… maybe the guy that brought me here, but that's a different case. That portal hurt like a bitch when I came through."

Daniel gave a snort. "Well, you'd better. I came here to do just that, and I don't think I'll be able to now." The mutant cocked his head in question.

"Wait, you're after the guy in charge here?" Daniel nodded his head, then proceeded to inform Vito on his mission. He went over how the man he worked for was the same person who made his weapons, and who was partially the reason as to why he had replacement limbs. He told Vito that he was here because his boss informed him of the nature of the Station and its supervisor, known only as The Caretaker. Apparently he was a corrupted monstrosity who delighted in the suffering of other beings, and staged battles like the one going on now every fifty years or so. Daniel's boss had sent him to the Station to take him down, and shut down the stadium for good. He finished with a request for Vito to do so in his stead.

Vito listened to the story with a raised eyebrow, taking the whole of it in stride.

"Soooo… you're working for an extradimensional godlike being, who told you to come here and beat the tar out of this 'Caretaker' guy," Daniel nodded. "And you want me to go waltzing around to find the dude and trash him in your place? Even when the guy is in complete control of this entire arena and could kill us by merely venting out the air?"

Daniel smirked and nodded again. "Yep, pretty much." Vito sighed.

"I never meet anyone normal." The lightning-child suddenly remembered something.

"You never actually said the magic words, you know."

Daniel looked at the boy. "'Magic words?' What magic words? Please and thank you?"

"'I surrender.' What, have you never heard of those bef—oh wait." The mutant gave himself a slap in the face, and Daniel smiled at the boy who walked into the verbal trap.

"Nope. Never heard of 'em." Vito laughed.

"I dug a grave with that one, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you kinda did."

The two warriors sat for a moment longer, relishing in the silence until a loudspeaker popped out of the ceiling and announced Vito's victory.

"**CONTESTANT 13: VITO GRAY WINS! CONGRATULATIONS!"**

Vito smiled and glanced over to the man sitting beside him. "I guess you didn't have to say it after all—whoa!" Daniel's body had begun to glow a bright white, and the man was looking at himself in wonder. The mutant scrambled to his feet, and backed away slightly.

"Am I being teleported or something? Because this feels… weird." Daniel hauled himself off of the ground, and held his prosthetic arm with his organic one. "Well, I guess this is it."

Vito stared wide-eyed at the man's shining form, watching as he slowly de-materialized.

"Yeah… I guess it is." Daniel smiled at the mutant, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Keep fighting kid. Lord knows you just might make it and stop that monster." With that, the Story Guardian vanished into thin air, leaving nothing in his wake. Vito looked down at the ground, and watched as the man's weapons disappeared as well.

"Whoa. That was… surreal." The mutant then heard a noise that sounded like a doorbell chime echo throughout the hallway. He looked around for the source and found that a door on the second level had opened, the light above it a pale blue instead of the red it was before. Vito flew up to it, his Charge Lines beginning to glow their familiar light once again. As he landed at the exit, he looked behind him at the destruction that had been dealt to the corridor.

"Something's telling me that's gonna buff out." Vito chuckled to himself. With that, the mutant drained the energy from the light above the doorway to give him a boost, and walked through the opening and further into the depths of Station S-6-S.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

Daniel watched at Vito blinked out of view, and fell to the ground in a slump. He did _not_ feel good at all, so he waited silently for his prosthetics' inner batteries to kick in.

The Story Guardian was pleased.

He may have gotten his backside thrown around like a sack of potatoes, but it was to someone who he had a good feeling about. That nineteen year-old gigawatt was a good kid. A bit annoying, but he had it where it counted. And besides, he had given the man the opportunity to back home and see Elsa again. Not a bad rap sheet, as far as Daniel could tell.

As Daniel waited for his limbs to start working again, he noticed something. If he lost, shouldn't he have been sent home or something? Back to Arendelle with Elsa and Anna? Because right now, wherever Daniel was at currently was _definitely_ not Arendelle.

He was in a dark place, with the only bit of light coming from a large window that offered a view into the vastness of space. Stars twinkled and swirled, and an asteroid belt could be seen circling around the Station. Daniel picked himself off of the floor – his limbs' power partially restored – and hobbled over to the viewport. He took in the view with a light sigh. Space was always incredible to look at, no matter how many times one saw its magnificence.

A shuffling noise was heard to his right, which Daniel picked up on. He whirled around, and came face-to-face with one of the most hideous creatures he had ever seen.

The thing was tall, taller than himself by a good four feet. It had six large bulbous black eyes that went down the length of its face in a V-pattern, and every single one seemed to look everywhere yet nowhere at once. It's head was reminiscent of a bug chitin, with a gaping maw showing dulled teeth that looked like they hadn't seen a meal (or proper care) in ages. Its hands were big and flat with many fingers adjoined to both, and the hands in turn were attached to long, spindly arms. The thing's legs were the same, except for something odd jutting out at its knee joints. Its legs seemed to split down the middle, making the two legs into four at the end. Daniel forced himself to stop staring at the beast in horror, and made eye contact with its topmost eyes. The monster raised the sides of its mouth in a gruesome smile and gave out a sibilant hiss that sounded much like laughter, before speaking to Daniel in a voice that reminded him of steel scraping against rock.

"Welcome, Daniel. I've been waiting for some time now to meet the lackey of that old friend of mine, _the Story-Keeper_." Daniel backed up a step, reaching for his Omni-Gun. His face blanched when he found that it wasn't there.

The Caretaker's body shook as he gave a low sound that sounded like giggling. "Oh, are you looking for these?" He lifted up a hand and a light shone in the center of it, before dissipating to reveal both the Darwin and the Omni-gun resting in his grasp.

"I think not. I don't particularly like the energy these are giving off. I'm afraid I'll just have to keep these until I can… 'fix' them properly." The Caretaker's hand closed briefly then opened again, revealing the weapons to be gone. Daniel was irate.

"Hey! Give those back, asshole!" The Caretaker merely scoffed, before snapping three of his fingers. In a flash, large black chains shot down from the ceiling, wrapping up Daniel in one fell swoop. Daniel struggled briefly, before realizing he wasn't doing anything to break them.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?! Don't you know who I am and what I do?! You get me out of these things right now, or so help me I will crush you to the point where not even _Hades_ will be able to comprehend what he's looking at!" The Caretaker dismissed the furious Story Guardian and walked over to a screen that was split into sixteen parts, each showing a different battle between different combatants taking place.

The alien stood there with his hands folded behind his back. "You're in no position to demand anything, little human. The Story-Keeper was a fool to send you here in the first place. He should have known it would be folly. After all, once you arrive…" He trailed off before continuing in a much deeper tone, "You never leave." Daniel felt himself being lifted upwards, the chains bringing him deeper and deeper into the shadows above The Caretaker.

"Now," taunted the monster, "enjoy your stay." The creature's laughter echoed throughout the room, causing the shadows next to Daniel to stir. The sounds of chains that were not his own rattling and clinking could be made out, with small groans and cries of pain accompanying them.

"Sorry Elsa, but it looks like I'm going to be a little bit late." The man closed his eyes, and finally fell unconscious as exhaustion took over his tired form. He fervently hoped he could find a way to get the hell out of here once he woke up.

That is, if he was still alive by then.

* * *

**_Wow. This was extremely fun to write. I loved writing the parts for Bigby the Big Bad Wolf's character, because I see a little bit of Vito in Daniel and vice versa. Here's hoping that Vito stays revved up and still in the fight._**

**_What darkness is The Caretaker hiding? What dangers will Vito face before he's returned to his home? Why am I asking YOU all of the questions?_**

**_Stay classy, everybody._**


End file.
